OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, JUL 8, 1999 (VIS) - The Holy Father:
- Accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of Cochabamba, Bolivia, presented by Archbishop Rene Fernandez Apaza, upon having reached the age limit. He is succeeded by Coadjutor Archbishop Tito Solari S.D.B.

- Appointed Bishop Luis Hector Villalba of San Martin, Argentina, as metropolitan archbishop of Tucuman (area 10,679, population 961,279, Catholics 849,290, priests 134, permanent deacons 8, religious 249), Argentina. The archbishop-elect was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1934 and ordained a priest in 1960. He succeeds Archbishop Arsenio Raul Casado whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese the Holy Father accepted in accordance with Canon 401, para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law.

- Appointed Archbishop Agostino Marchetto, apostolic nuncio, as Holy See Permanent Observer to the United Nations Food and Agriculture organizations and organisms (F.A.O., I.F.A.D., P.A.M. and C.M.A.).
RE:NER:NA/.../... VIS 990708

GREETINGS AT THE END OF THE GENERAL AUDIENCE

VATICAN CITY, JUL 7, 1999 (VIS) - At the end of today's general audience, held in the Paul VI Hall, the pilgrims present were greeted in their various languages by John Paul II.

"In Slovakia on Monday you celebrated Saints Cyril and Methodius, your evangelizers," he told a group of Slovak pilgrims. "Pray for yourselves and for your nation, that it may remain faithful to the Christian heritage of your fathers."

After greetings in Italian to young people, the sick and the recently married, the Pope blessed "with affection, the altar boys who, in this period, are assisting the priests in St. Peter's basilica."

AG;GREETINGS;...;...;VIS;19990707;Word: 110;

GENERAL AUDIENCE: JUDGEMENT AND MERCY

VATICAN CITY, JUL 7, 1999 (VIS) - In today's general audience, held in the Paul VI Hall, the Holy Father spoke on the subject of "Judgement and Mercy." He said that, even though they may appear to be "two irreconcilable realities," nonetheless Holy Scripture unites them and presents them in such a way that one cannot exist without the other.

"The sense of divine justice is discerned progressively throughout the Old Testament, starting from situations in which those who have acted well feel unjustly threatened. ... Scripture understands intervention in support of the oppressed as being, above all, justice, that is, God's faithfulness to the promises He made to Israel."

John Paul II recalled that, from the viewpoint of salvation, the figure of the Messiah assumes "the functions of rule and judgement, for the prosperity and growth of the community and of its individual members."

In the New Testament "divine justice is linked with Christ's saving work. ... Only those who refuse salvation, offered by God in His limitless mercy, will be condemned because they will have condemned themselves."

The Pope explained that judgement and mercy are understood as two "dimensions of the same mystery of love. ... (Love) spurs us to have faith in the day of judgement, eliminating all fear. In imitation of this divine justice, human justice too must be exercised according to a law of liberty in which mercy must prevail."

He concluded: "In revealing to us the fullness of the Father's mercy, Jesus also taught us that this Father, so just and merciful, may be reached only through the experience of mercy which must mark our relationship with our brothers and sisters.

AG;JUDGEMENT; MERCY;...;...;VIS;19990707;Word: 280;

AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, JUL 7, 1999 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in audience Zurab Zhvania, president of the parliament of the Republic of Georgia.

AP;...;...;...;VIS;19990707;Word: 30;

HOLY FATHER LEAVES TODAY FOR MOUNTAIN VACATION

VATICAN CITY, JUL 7, 1999 (VIS) - Pope John Paul leaves this afternoon for a vacation period in Les Combes in the northern Italian region of Valle'd'Aosta. He is scheduled to leave the Vatican by car at 5 p.m. today for Rome's Fiumicino Airport, where he will depart a half hour later. He arrives at the Torino-Caselle Airport at 6:30 p.m. and will immediately depart by helicopter for Les Combes.

JPII-VACATION;...;...;LES COMBES;VIS;19990707;Word: 80;